The whole premise of the show is a young debutante (Daphne) meets an older, emotionally unavailable Duke (Simon). He has childhood trauma caused by his terrible father, which caused him to vow to never marry or have kids. She falls in love with him and tries to make him marry her and start a family, eventually he gives in to both and he begrudgingly marries her and they have a baby.

HOW THE FUCK IS THIS CONSIDERED ROMANTIC?

The whole time I was hate-watching it, I hated both of the main characters. I was literally yelling at the screen WHYYYY??? DON'T GET MARRIED YOU WILL BE MISERABLE!!!

Simon has unresolved childhood trauma that he allows to run his life (I guess they didn't have therapy back in 1813). He is emotionally manipulative and lies by omission. He goes on and on "I will never marry" but never tells anybody WHY (he had a shitty father, wants his line to die with him) until it's far too late and they're already married. He tells Daphne he "can't have children" (which she thinks means he is impotent) but apparently he can still get a boner, his pullout game is just on point.

Daphne is a massive pickme and naive idiot. The whole time, the Duke is VERY CLEAR he doesn't want to get married or have kids but she keeps trying to force him to marry and impregnate her. And it's not like he's her only suitor, there's Prince Frederick who is perfectly kind, mature, and dreamy and actually has the same goals as her (they both want to get married and have a family). He could have made her a PRINCESS and he would have treated her like a QUEEN but NOOO apparently she just HAS to go for the emotionally unavailable Duke who will make her miserable.

There's also Daphne's older brother Anthony who I honestly thought was the villain for most of the show because he turns down every single one of Daphne's suitors and tries to force her to marry Nigel Berbrooke, some fugly NiceGuy. He was weird AF to me.

There's this one scene where Simon and Daphne are kissing in the garden and Anthony catches them, and angrily demands Simon marry his sister to protect her honor. Simon declines, so Anthony challenges him to a duel.

Daphne interrupts the duel and tries to force Simon to marry her because "someone saw us in the garden, if you don't marry me, my honor will be ruined no matter who wins the duel so MARRY ME" and Simon STILL DECLINES.

Sis he LITERALLY just said he would rather DIE than marry you, what more do you want?

Simon then tells Daphne "I know you want a family, but I am unable to have children, so go marry someone else and be happy"

Sis he is LITERALLY telling you that you deserve better than him, MOVE ON!

Simon then turns towards Anthony to resume the duel and Daphne yells to her brother "THERE IS NO NEED, THE DUKE AND I ARE TO BE MARRIED" with this sad, defeated look in her eye.

Sis what the FUCK he literally just said no, multiple times, he does not want to marry you, WHY are you so desperate??? YOU. TWO. WILL. BE. MISERABLE.

So anyways, they get married, and Daphne gets to learn what sex is like. They fuck, a lot, and Daphne is surprised because she thought "unable to have children" meant that he wouldn't be able to do the deed. She doesn't really understand how sex works or how babies are made so doesn't know that he is pulling out to prevent pregnancy. Her naivete makes their sex scenes kinda gross tbh. He is a much older, "worldly" man(whore) and she is so young and uninformed about sex she doesn't even know how to masturbate.

Eventually she learns from her ladies maid how babies are made and one night she is riding Simon and this time doesn't let him pull out (gross, and also sounds a lot like manosphere fanfiction, the whole "she baby trapped me" trope). He's super pissed, says he doesn't want a child, they fight, he says they will be married "in name only"

She has her period, so she's not pregnant. Eventually they do set aside their differences and in the last episode he agrees to have a baby and the audience is just supposed to believe that they live happily ever after I guess??? Even though their whole relationship is based on lies, manipulation, and resentment? Ugh.

Here are some problematic themes in Simon and Daphne's relationship:

  1. Perpetuates the lie that a slutty man will change for "just the right woman" (he won't, but in the meantime you'll be slaving away trying to make yourself his "perfect dream girl")

  2. Emotional manipulation and lying by omission as the foundation of their relationship.

  3. They want different things in life, from the very beginning, which will only lead to resentment later in life.

  4. Simon was very clear with Daphne that he didn't want marriage or children. He repeatedly says so. He literally said he would rather die than marry her. Both of them will probably bring this up in arguments later. (Him: "I never wanted to marry you! I wish I had died in that duel!" Her: "You never loved me! You would rather die and ruin my reputation rather than marry me!")

  5. Daphne is with a man who loves her less than she loves him which will probably make her feel depressed and worthless.

  6. Big age gap. Yikes. The showrunners said Daphne is 21 but this is likely untrue. This is Daphne's first social season so she is more likely 16, 17, or 18. Meanwhile, Simon is in his late 20s or early 30s, or possibly older given the different/older dress style in his childhood flashbacks. So, we're talking about at least a 10 year age gap between the two of them. It wouldn't have been uncommon at the time, but still gross.

  7. Honestly there is so much more, their entire relationship is rotten to the core. LVM/NVM will never magically become HVM just because you love them a lot. Daphne should have just married Prince Frederick.